Headlines
by TechnoDee
Summary: Kirby and Bandana Dee talk about being acknowledged. Bandana Dee's fine without his name being stuck on the news everywhere. "After all, the name 'Bandana Dee' doesn't really sound cool on the headlines. Don't you think so?"


_TOP NEWS: PINK HERO SAVES BAKERY_

"You sure make the headlines for a lot of things," Bandana Dee remarked, pawing the front page of the newspaper. A zephyr blew, leaves rustling overhead. The sound reminded Bandana Dee of the many times he'd been tasked to fill up bean bags. The same sound had been produced when the filling came pouring down, too.

Kirby halted in twirling around in a patch of overgrown grass, almost tripping clumsily. He cocked his head sideways. "What did I do yesterday? Em… I watered and trimmed my plants in the morning, then I went grocery shopping…"

If Bandana Dee had a mouth, he would've opened it, preparing to explain. Then his brain found that it couldn't compile words fast enough to make a cohesive sentence, so he simply shoved the newspaper forward. With the wind blowing, he had to hold down the bottom of it, too. Carefully so that he wouldn't crease it. The king hated it when it was creased, so it was a habit.

The pink hero eyed the article, scanning through it. He was probably looking through the entire article, not just the title. The title would've only taken a glance, a moment. The king always only had a glance to see whether he was interested in it or not, too.

"...'Barked at them to stand down'?" Kirby sounded almost indignant, yet not quite. "That's not what I did. I just told them I didn't like what they were doing and nobody else did. Then they suddenly bowed and apologised and ran away… newspapers are so weird."

Kirby was a renowned hero. Who wouldn't be scared if he said something like that?

Bandana Dee wasn't sure what the answer was, watching Kirby hum and skip to a patch of lavenders and ruffling through it like he was looking for something.

Lowering the newspaper back down so he could read it, Bandana Dee reached over into the picnic basket to pull out a cookie Kirby had baked. Despite his cluttered house, Kirby's cooking was divine. Once he baked a cake for the village, too. It was twice the size of his own house. That had hit the headlines, too. Kirby was good at a lot of things.

Chomping thoughtfully, Bandana Dee let the crumbs spill on the newspaper and he mused, "You're on the news for a lot of different stuff."

"Hmm?" Kirby hummed, still in his patch of flowers. He seemed preoccupied with something. Oddly, the pink hero had a liking to take care of random, wild plants that he had never seen before. "I guess I have. It's a bit creepy sometimes, but it's okay. It's nice getting to know a lot of people from the village. They're all nice."

"They are." Bandana Dee had visited the village on patrols, and more than once had he been offered some sort of snack while he was doing gruelling work, baking under the sun of the village. "Don't any of them go rabid seeing you? Or ask for a fansigning?"

Kirby's expression soured a little, but he didn't cease whatever he was doing. "I don't have any rabid fans. It's a blessing. That would be very, very, tiring. Probably. Do you think so?"

"...Yeah."

"Mhm. As for fansigning—a lot of times. They're so weird. I don't even have a signature. And it's just a squiggle of ink, anyway." Kirby wasn't _completely_ mature or perfectly understanding of every situation, and Bandana Dee was grateful for a flaw. Being too perfect would make him suspect that Kirby was actually a descent from the heavens. But Kirby had mentioned he was still pretty young, so… maybe he'd mature out of _that_ , too!

Unsure of how to respond to that appropriately—trying to explain it like an adult would kill the mood—Bandana Dee looked back down at the newspaper. Brown dots were scattered all over it because of Bandana Dee's clumsy action. And the winds had stopped blowing, too.

There wasn't anything particularly interesting in the newspapers. Bandana Dee tilted his head backwards to look up at the sky instead. Dream Land always had a photogenic sky—far and wide and just a bit darker than the feathers of a bluebird. White, fluffy clouds that looked like cotton candy seemed as though Paint Kirby had artistically splotched them all over. It hardly ever stormed.

"Maybe if they stopped trying to investigate how many times I breathe per minute… I think that'd be nice, too. Breathing like me won't make you a superhero, you know. You know, right?"

"Of course."

"Right? When that report came out that I grow plants at home, I suddenly saw a lot more shrubs and potted plants in the village."

"Don't you like them?" Bandana Dee personally thought it made the village look a lot more serene.

"Of course. Whispy was pretty happy about it, too. When I told him."

Right, the tree in the deep forest that Kirby had acquainted himself with. Except the poor tree had dementia of some sort, and normally forgot everything about Kirby. Sometimes Kirby could sit down and chat with the memory-wiped Whispy Woods. Sometimes he'd have to throw the apples back at his face and knock him out.

"But I think he's forgotten that already."

Bandana Dee made a mental note to carve a wooden sign in front of Whispy Woods later about it, then. The thought of that might've occurred to Kirby, but the pink puffball didn't know how to spell and write all too well.

"Hm… Bandana Dee's kind of a hero, too, right?"

Startled at Kirby's sudden swerve of topic, the waddle dee shifted uncomfortably. "Huh? Well… not really… Why would you say that?"

Kirby was still meddling with the flower patch. Probably rearranging it so they weren't all tangled like they became when the wind blew. "Dedede's allllways been talking about how you're a great minion. Like the time you scaled the outer walls of the castle to save a cat. Or like the times you skipped lunch to help the other minions that were having trouble. Or like the time you ran from the castle to help some waddle dees who were being cornered in the woods although it was your day off."

Bandana Dee blinked. "...Great King said that?"

"Yup!" Kirby stood up, blinking owlishly at the waddle dee. "You're not upset that you do all this stuff and yet you don't hit the headlines?"

What a straightforward question.

Bandana Dee looked up. A bird was gliding in the air. Its feathers seemed like the colour of the background—belly white as clouds and azure feathers maybe just a bit brighter than the sky.

"I don't think making news-breaking accomplishments matters. After all, the name 'Bandana Dee' doesn't really sound cool on the headlines. Don't you think so?"

The pink puffball remained motionless and silent, stubs still deep in the patch of flowers. Winds blew again. The sound of filling flowing into the empty bean bags came by again. Then Kirby's face broke out into a big grin.

"That was soooo profound of you to say!" he laughed, before finally standing up completely. In his hands, purple lavender flowers were deftly braided together, curving smoothly and forming a flower crown.

"Just… don't tell Great King or Sir Meta Knight I said that," Bandana Dee grumbled, leaning back against the rough bark of the tree behind him.

"Sure, sure!" Kirby skipped over in front of Bandana Dee, displaying the flower crown proudly like a small child showing something to their parent. Leaning over, he fitted it over Bandana Dee's head, stopping just below the bottom of the bandana. "Ta-da! Now you're a king. And that means you're great at what you're doing. Like, 'the king of gardening'. Or 'the king of being Bandana Dee'. But you don't have to be on the news!"

The waddle dee sighed and reached up to take it off, then decided against it the next moment and let his stub dropped.

"I thought you'd care more about plucking live plants."

"It's fine, it's fine. I'll just grow it back even _nicer_. Whoever planted this will be so grateful they'll hope that I'll come by and pluck and replant some more."

Bandana Dee smiled even though Kirby couldn't see it.

"Would that make it to the news, too?"

* * *

 _It's TechnoDee._

 _I guess a lot of my friends anguish over the fact they're never recognised for what they think they're good at. I'm personally fine with staying quiet. Too much attention makes me feel uncomfortable depending on the situation. Whaddabout you?  
_

 _I can't write oneshots and I am sorry. Just enjoy this angel known as Bandana Dee. He needs love._

 _But it's my headcanon that Kirby is really into botany._


End file.
